The Ins and Outs of Blogging

I honestly don't know what I was thinking when I started blogging. I mean, sure, its easy to start, but honestly, I'm a guy that when he puts time into something, he's going to do it right. I got lucky many times along the way, but what I've learned along the way, has been astounding.

In the beginning its simple. Jump on Bloggers.com and create your profile, and then start writing. It really couldn't be much easier. Write to your heart's content, but just know, that unless you start networking, readers just won't come and find you.

Then comes the next step, networking. Yeah, maybe I'm repeating that word a bit much, but honestly, I spend 2 to 3 hours a day networking, and more if I can get a few minutes at the computer every now and then. And what I've learned is pretty amazing, but before I started, I ended up getting lucky.

Out of all the people I've befriended while blogging, one of the first was a Nigerian guy who was into SEO. That three letter acronym is something that took me a while to even understand, let alone find out it was somewhat important. From him, I learned that you have to branch out, to expand.

So that's what I did. I joined social sites for bloggers, and though most are full of spam, some are really great message boards with interesting people and amazing discussions. I read other people's blogs and found out what works for them, and integrated it as best I could into my own blog. I made friends, and continued writing comments and discussing, and soon I realized, I was getting traffic.

It wasn't much at first. So I branched out more. I joined Twitter, and made a Facebook Fanpage. I worked those for a bit, then started to understand Twitter better, to understand hashtags, and understand the tools for twitter. I joined retweet websites such as Justretweet.com and worked it as best I could.

The next step was looking for other places to post besides my own site. EzineArticles is a great site for just that, along with Broowaha. I even looked into guest posts on sites that I really enjoyed, and knew I might be able to contribute to.

Next thing I know, after all this work, I have traffic. Sure, its still not as much as some well established sites, but as I enter the 4th month of stats, I can look at that spike upwards and know I have done my best. Is there more I can do, you bet. And I'm going to keep working at it.

But what it all boils down to, at the end of the day, is that I work intensely to put out the best quality articles I can. All that networking and such is for nothing, if I don't follow that "Quality is King" creed. But if Quality is King, the 'marketing' is Queen. People have to find your site, and trust me, there are PLENTY of ways to get out there and network. I fully admit, most of my time is spent networking, but its all been well worth it.

I started doing this, because I love to write, and wanted to spend my time doing something fun. I ended up making friends around the world, reading so many wonderful websites, and joining a community that gives me faith in the Internet, and humanity once again. And somewhere along the way, I found readers, a fanbase, and fun.

Making the Most of Your Garden - Patio Equipment and Furnishings

Not too long ago a garden was something that you looked at out of a window and kept tidy so that the neighbours and passers by had something to make small talk about.

Those days are however long past and now the garden has become a mix of a quiet retreat and an area used for socialising, eating and partying. In fact many people now see their garden as being nothing short of an extension to their home and they take every opportunity to use it.

So how can you make the most out of your garden?

The first challenge that most people face when it comes to maximising garden (back yard) use is the climate.

For all but the lucky few, a four season climate sees cold and often wet weather dominate major periods of the year. This means that the garden can appear to be a cold, muddy and inhospitable place - not the kind of environment that you want to spend time in, let alone invite friends to.

There is however a solution, or rather a number of solutions, that can make any garden a warm, friendly and sociable place to be and all are affordable and practical.

Keep a garden warm

The big problem with using a garden out of season is warmth, so the solution to this problem is to buy a garden heater. These heaters can be gas burning tower heaters that use butane or propane, or electric heaters that produce infrared rays.

If you want something more interesting, then you can go for a traditional terra cotta or wrought iron chimenea (wood burner) or even a fire pit. Ether way, there are a number of options and all will add interest as well as some much appreciated heat.

BBQ

The best way to entertain and satisfy most groups of people is with food and drink and therefore having a barbeque is a great idea. BBQ's can burn wood or BBQ coals, or they can be powered by gas or even electricity.

If you want to combine the two, then the chimenea and fire pit, although often used as garden heaters, are actually really intended for cooking and they work very effectively.

Hard landscaping

If you want to use the garden when the lawn is wet and muddy you will need a dry area and this is where a patio comes in. The patio can be constructed out of just about anything that is solid, level and resilient, so pavers, paving slabs, loose gravel and timber decking are all ideal.

The patio area then becomes the centre of any garden activities and the area where the heater and barbeque are placed.

Furniture

Even with a solid floor, heat and food you still need somewhere to sit and somewhere to put down plates and drinks. The answer is garden or patio furniture.

Garden furniture sets come in wrought iron, wood, plastic and metal and fabric combinations and they can convert your open patio area into an outdoor room. The only possible problem that you can now face is rain and inclement weather and even then there is a solution.

Cabins and summerhouses

If your garden is big enough you can always add a summerhouse or log cabin. These outdoor buildings can be big or small and you can use them as store areas, or as outdoor rooms with light and electricity supplied to them.

Having a summerhouse gives any guests or family members the choice of staying outside, or going indoors, but without actually leaving the garden environment.

Taking Care of Business

"The more I study the wealthy...in an effort to learn how to help more people around the world become one of them...I'm stunned by how many people are actually not rich." - David Bach

Most of us are old enough to remember the lyrics to Bachman-Turner Overdrive's (BTO) song Takin' Care of Business. The song is about someone who works hard at their job but doesn't seem happy. Their goal is to be self-employed and free of the stressful life. Does that sound familiar? A lot of us would love to do what we want, but aren't sure how to do that financially. I'm not here to say that I have the answers, but I've got a great resource on how to get a little closer to your financial goals.

I'm usually the last person people think of when they want to discuss financial matters because of my lack of knowledge and interest, but I'm changing that perception, thanks to this great book. It's called Smart Women Finish Rich by David Bach (finishrich.com). Bach talks in the book about the necessity of getting your financial house in order. Coincidentally, Lori and I are always talking about the necessity of getting your life in order. Can a comparison be made between getting organized to becoming financially secure so that you can enjoy doing what you want when you want?

When we work with our clients, one of the first things we try to determine through a serious of questions is the answer to "Where are you stuck?" We try to determine what's working and what's not working. Most of the time (99.9% of the time), our clients can come up with a pretty extensive list as to what is not working, but have a really hard time even coming up with one or two things that are working. As in many things in our lives, it's easy to focus on the bad, not the good. But for us to recognize where the client is and where they want to be (their goals), we need for them to answer both questions.

Bach is suggesting that a similar process be done in regards to your finances. He helps his clients create a "Values Ladder" when he works with them to try and determine what's important about money to them in order to build their financial foundation. Now, I don't know about you guys, but I'm not used to having to think about my values when I think about my financial matters. I usually don't think that much about this type of stuff, but when I do, it's not with that focus. It's more on the lines of is there enough money for this, or that, not necessarily long-term visioning.

In the book, Bach tells a story about clients that have met with them in his office for financial advice, and have brought their financial documents in plastic grocery bags and dumped them onto his desk. He talks about the fact that many of these people have both spouses working full time and not having any time or energy in their life left to attend to their financial matters. They are fiscally responsible and are putting their money into some sort of savings/investment plans, but are just too darn busy to do the work that they need to do to maintain their investments routinely. They money just goes in, and then they get all of these statements and everything just gets dumped into the plastic grocery bags.

This story reminds me of many of our clients who are so busy with their jobs and life and there are no systems in place to deal with all of their incoming paper or clutter. We often hear "I just don't have the time to get organized". Daily planning and prioritizing takes very little time once some changes have been made and systems have been updated. Can you afford to be disorganized when it comes to your finances? Isn't it time to make some small changes towards becoming more financially educated and responsible? It is for me.

© 2006 All Rights Reserved.

Sendong Hits Iligan City - Philippines: Worst Nightmare

Christmas may be the time for rejoicing but this year, it is a different story. I may have faced hard trials in my own journey in life but as I witnessed the tragedy of Sendong (the name given to the latest typhoon that hit Iligan City - Philippines), I am blessed that I have these things of mine right now - a simple house, not so nice dress, friends, and above all, a happy family. I became a volunteer to help the victims of Sendong and be able to talk to some people inside the evacuation area. They have lot of sad stories but when I have an interview with an 18 years old boy, I can't keep my tears from falling.

" It's raining... it's dark.. and it's cold.."

There may be people with volunteers on their chest in front of me offering food but I can't hear their voices. Their voices are overpowered by the deafening screams from children, mother, father, and innocent newborn babies asking for help. It has been four days since I arrived in this place but for me, I am trap with that tragedy four days ago; the tragedy that took everything from me. Our house, our properties, and most of all, my family - they are all gone.

Tell me, how can I talk? If everyone I love is gone! Tell me, how can I smile? If my heart is in pain! And please, tell me, how can I live? If my reasons to breathe are dead! Christmas is coming and we have lot of plans this year. But because of this happening, I can't feel the essence of Christmas anymore.

We are five in the family and they are all nowhere to find. I have two younger brothers in the age of four and the other one is three. How can they survive? They don't even know how to swim. They are too young to die! They have plenty of dreams and a lot of plans in life. James wants to be a doctor someday and Burt wants to be a soldier. I can't even breathe whenever I remember their strong desire to achieve their dreams. Their innocent faces that make me smile before, now, these figures are killing me softly. I can still hear their voices calling the names of my father and mother. Their voices are fading slowly from my ears that time but now they are as clear as this pain in my heart. I really tried to save them, I really do. But fate is so unkind to us; we are all separated from each other by the strong current of the water and by the darkness of the night.

That night was full of surprises. When everybody was sleeping, I heard a gushing sound of water. I rubbed my eyes to awaken myself and think of it as a hallucination of mine. But, I still hear the sound that was why I went downstairs and found out that there was already water in our floor. I abruptly woke my brothers as well as my parents. The electricity worn out and we were all in panic. My father and mother led us to our roof and there I was relief from my fear because we were safe from the devouring water. But, death was really chasing us. There were huge logs that hit our house and torn it into pieces. We were all hugged by our parents to ensure that we will not be separated from them but the current was really strong that we can't even save our very own selves from drowning. That time, I was not thinking on how to survive but on how to save my brothers rather. I was under water and trying to breathe but there were huge logs above which kept me from going above the surface. Just when I thought that I won't be living anymore, I was able to go above the surface of the gushing water. I tried my very best to scream for their names but no one answered. There were screams from other people asking for help but all I can do was to listen to their dying voices. I can't even help myself to save me; to save my love ones.

It is a big miracle that I was able to survive. There were people who managed to find me in the midst of the sea after three hours floating in the water with the help of a branch of a tree. They brought me to this place physically alive, because emotionally I am really broken into pieces. I want to find my family but I don't know what to do! It has been four days and I am very worried about my brother and parents. Are they okay? Are they looking for me? Or even, are they still alive?

Suddenly, someone hugged me... This hug is very familiar. This is the hug whenever I have problems and whenever I am crying - the hug of my beloved mother! At this time, I am totally awake from my worst nightmare!

Top Tips For Maximizing Your AdSense Profits

One of the best ways to make money online is through Google AdSense. The Google corporation is the best at paying webmasters so that they can place ads to various products related to your site.

The smart website owner takes advantage to this great deal and uses it to the best of his abilities. Although, he does have some concerns. Could he be doing it better? Is there a way to get even more money through Google AdSense that he doesn't even know about? Here are some of the tips that he might be able to learn from.

Top Tip #1: Be Specific

If you want to get good ads for your website, then you should place good quality content on your page. To make sure that you get a good click through rate for your ads, though, you want to have a VERY SPECIFIC topic. By doing this, it ensures that your AdSense ads are as relevant to your readers as possible. Always remember that Relevance is King!

Top Tip #2: Pick Vertical Ads

Years of pop-ups and spam have trained all internet users to completely ignore banners that show up horizontally towards the top of the screen. As a result, if you place a horizontal banner across the top of your page, you risk the chance of your readers dismissing it as pop-ups, or they might be so used to dismissing it that they don't even see it. Google recommends that you place vertical ads, and your ads help make them money too, so it would be wise to listen to them.

Top Tip #3: Place Your Ads Up To The Right

Through research and experiments with Google users, Google has determined that the most effective place to position your ads on your site is up and to the right. You want to place plenty of white space around it so that it doesn't look jammed in as an after thought. You want your ads to look nice, and apparently they look nicest when placed up and to the right.

Top Tip #4: Place Pictures Near Your Ads

Your eye is immediately drawn towards a picture when it is placed on a page with text, so you should place you ads near you pictures so that your customers also look towards your ads.

You should make sure that you follow these top tips because they can definitely help you make as much money possible from Google AdSense. Just make sure to follow the rules, because they have no problem kicking you out of their program. Follow their rules, and follow my tips to you, and you will have no problem getting a paycheck on complete autopilot.

Insurance for Caravans - Why You Need It?

When going for vacation one of the best things would be not having to worry about accommodation that is why owning a caravan comes as very useful when traveling form place to place. A caravan is basically like a mobile home on four wheels and traveling in such a vehicle can be very enjoyable but at the same time stressful in the event of an accident. In order to be able to enjoy your vacation to the maximum and not worry about anything you need to consider purchasing insurance for caravans. Insuring your caravan means that you will be financially protected in case an accident happens. Since the caravan is a four wheel vehicle insuring it is also needed in order to drive it legally.

Before you start searching for insurance for caravans you should establish a few things that will help you choose the best suited insurance policy. Fist of all you need to establish what type of caravan you own. Since there are two types of caravans, one type is the static caravan and the other type is the touring caravan which is mobile, you also need to choose your insurance according to this fact. If your caravan is mobile you will need a specialized insurance which is designed for touring caravans and if your caravan is static you will have to choose the insurance policy designed for static caravans.

After you have established which type of insurance for caravans you need, you should keep a few things in mind regarding your caravan. If you own a touring caravan you will probably end up taking with you quite a few things when going for a holiday. Keeping that in mind you should probably search for an insurance policy that will provide coverage for all the items that you have in your caravan such as furniture or kitchen appliances. If you choose, you can also insure any valuable personal belongings that you decide to take with you in your trip. Doing so will allow you to get reimbursement of the value of the items in the event of damage or even theft.

For those that own a static caravan the insurance for caravans that they need to search for should provide coverage for some basic things. A good policy should cover for things like the steps or the fencing of the static caravan and even for the patio surrounding the caravan. Always check if the policy provides such coverage before buying it.

Building Up Your Marriage with Healthy Communication

Would you like to have a stronger, healthier, more enjoyable marriage? I am sure that you would. And yet we live in a culture where about half of all marriages will shatter and end in a divorce, leaving behind the wreckage of broken adults and broken children. If we are to build healthy marriages, we much do so "on purpose." We cannot just hope that it will happen by accident. "Hope," say the generals, "is not a good strategy." Planning, work, and the investment of time, are much better strategies for any important endeavor of life. The first characteristic of a healthy marriage for us to consider is the way that we talk to our spouse, and the way that we talk about our spouse.. Healthy marriages are characterized by supportive, encouraging, and honest communication. We want to build each other up in our marriages, never tear our spouse down (especially under the guise of being "honest"). Two thousand years ago St. Paul wrote this verse that is worthy of every refrigerator door in America, "Don't let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up, according to what they need, so that you can benefit those who listen." (Paul's letter to the Ephesians, Chapter 4). There are three important parts to Paul's verse. First, that if we don't have something good to say, don't say anything at all. I think my mother told me that as well. Second, that we should consider our listener's needs. My wife has a different set of needs than does my daughter, or my sons. We should consider how best to encourage and support that particular person. Finally, the purpose of our talking in the first place should be to benefit the listener. When I first began to seriously apply Paul's principle, and I began to really look at what I was saying, and why I was saying it, my vocabulary and my time talking were cut by about one-third. I had become sarcastic, but funny. But my funny sarcasm was always at the expense of another. When I determined to build others up and benefit them with my speech, I talked a lot less. But I became a much better person, both inside and out. Check your motives. If you just want to make yourself look good, you will tend to be sarcastic, and you will tend to "tease" other people by degrading them in front of others. The consequences of this will be that your friends will see your "teasing" as shameful, and your spouse and your children will grow distant from you. It may cost you your marriage. If , on the other hand, your motives are to build up and encourage your spouse and children, then speak words of support, love, and praise to them. Your friends will view you as a loving person, and your spouse and children will always want to be near you. They will love to hear you talk, as your words will be "like honey" to them. So choose well how you will use your words. You have the power to build up, or to tear down, just by the choices that you make.

What Is Wardriving And How Can You Prevent It

Imagine a car equipped with nothing more than a laptop computer, a portable GPS receiver, and a wireless network card slowly strolls through your neighborhood. Unknown to any onlookers, this is no ordinary vehicle; rather, it is a wardriving machine. As the car strolls past homes and businesses, a wireless network card (available at any electronics store for as low as $25) scans for any wireless access points. Anyone with a wireless network (and there are many out there) is vulnerable. The computer is looking for what is called an SSID. An SSID is your wireless network name and it is being constantly transmitted by your access point, letting computers know of its presence. The wardriver uses software such as Netstumbler (for windows) or Cismet (for linux) to scan the airwaves for SSIDs. The program can track various access points at once and monitor the signal strength. These programs can also check to see if the network is encrypted. The wardriver will generally configure his or her software to log any strong unencrypted signals. Using the GPS receiver, the coordinates of the strong signal will be recorded. After this preliminary drive, the wardriver can return to the locations that were recorded, and connect to the access point. Once connected to an unencrypted network, the wardriver can use the victim's internet access, and can also explore computers on the network. If files are being shared within someone's private network, all of that information is susceptible to a wardriver. Furthermore, once in the network, a wardriver can sniff network traffic and can view any information such as passwords and credit card numbers you send out to the internet - even SSL secured data. Wireless network vulnerability is a major problem, and as more and more households purchase wireless technology, the problem of insecure networks increases. Sound scary? Well this happens every day, and it doesn't take an expert to pull off. It doesn't take an expert to protect against either, however.

Steps you can take to protect against wardrivers:

There are a number of very simple steps you can take to protect your wireless network. For many of these, you will have to access your router configuration utility (check your manual on how to do this, you will generally need to type an IP address into your browser such as 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1).

Don't broadcast your SSID. If you are broadcasting your SSID, this is the first thing a program will pickup and recognize. If you configure your router to not broadcast your SSID, it will be difficult to detect (but not impossible, for some software can sniff wireless communication, so if you are using your wireless network, the SSID can be revealed). If you are not broadcasting your SSID, but it can be guessed (such as if you are using a default SSID), cloaking is pointless. Due to this, remember to change your SSID from the factory default. This is not a 100 percent effective method to secure your network, but it is a good first line of defense.

Change the default password. When you buy a router, a factory password is stored. People experienced in working with routers know the default passwords for different routers (and the make of the router can be seen by wardriver software such as netstumbler). It is important that you secure your router with a good password.

Encrypt your wireless communication. I can't stress the importance of encrypting your wireless communication enough. Enable encryption and enter a key. Most routers are only capable of WEP encryption, but if they permit, use EAP encryption, it's more secure than WEP. Like cloaking your SSID, encryption is not 100 percent secure. Given enough time and determination, if someone wants to target you and access your network, WEP encryption can be bypassed using software such as AirSnort.

Filter the MAC addresses that are allowed to connect to your router. This would require that you enter your router configuration and input the MAC address of each wireless card you have. This will restrict access so that only your computers can connect to the router. You will need to obtain the MAC address (which is the individual identification address of a network card in the form a 12 digit hexadecimal number). If someone sniffs traffic and detects the MAC address of a computer wirelessly using your network, the wardriver could emulate that address and connect to the router, but this takes time.

If you configure file sharing on your computers, make sure it is password protected. You should not share files on your networked computers unless it requires an authenticated user to access. Set up the same user accounts on your machines so that your computers can share files.

With these relatively simple steps, wireless network users can secure their networks from wardrivers. Wireless networks are inherently insecure, and these tips will merely help you greater secure your network. If someone is really determined to gain access to your network, given enough time, a good hacker can get access. These tips will deter the average wardriver from gaining access to your network, however. Although these methods are not definite security measures, they will change your network from being something that can be hacked in a matter of seconds, to something that will take a determined hacker days if not weeks of work, all of which will have to be done while in close proximity to your network.

Commercial Construction Costs - The Importance Of Planning

When designing, planning as well as constructing a commercial property the costs involved are of paramount importance. Unfortunately this is even more true today than it was 10 years ago for the simple fact prices of materials etc., are continually increasing. However a great way of ensuring that the costs are kept to a minimum during any project is through using a commercial construction costs management service.

This is an establishment which is able to realistically look at the capital costs for any commercial construction project. They not only look closely at the planning costs but also cost control services. Plus this service will also ensure that the bids provided on the construction project are documented as well as being completed within the pre-arranged framework of costs and time. They will also look at finding the most economical ways of ensuring that the project does not run over budget.

Each construction project should employ an independent and professional cost manager or quantity surveyor who can police as well as have a clear overview of everything that is going on in order to protect the financial interests of the person who is having the construction project done. Generally these people will use their engineering judgment and experience which they then apply to scientific principles and techniques to allow them to analyze and develop the best action that should be taken in order to provide a good estimation of the costs involved as well as being able to control the commercial construction costs once the project starts on site.

By using a good set of cost management principles the cost manager or quantity surveyor will ensure that the construction project stays within the budget limits and still meets performance and quality targets.

In fact when a commercial construction project is being prepared the cost manager or quantity surveyor is an integral part of the team and can bring added value to any construction and design team.

However if there are any problems relating to commercial construction costs especially if they exceed the budget then this may well cause problems for the person who was asked to control the costs initially.

Hire App Developers to Make Maximum Benefits From Mobile Applications

There has been an exponential growth in the mobile industry in recent years. There is a large variety of applications available for different mobile operating systems. The mobile app development companies are helping businesses to leverage their potential by using these applications for promotion and revenue generation activities.

Those businesses who want to invest in mobile applications must hire app developers to build quality mobile app development solutions. A professional app developer has the ability to add charm and high functionality into the solution to allure maximum people. Let's consider some of the benefits of developing a mobile application:

1. Expand Business Reach: There are millions of Smartphone users who download at least one new application every week. It's a great way to reach a wider audience by providing new information about products and services worldwide at no additional costs.

2. Mobile Websites as Applications: Having mobile sites as applications allow users to download it onto their device. This provides a lot of convenience to users while order placing and tracking.

3. Website Synchronization: The website can be synchronized with the application to share the updates with the customers in real-time. This provides a lot of convenience to stay in touch with the target market.

4. Creating Connection: It is possible to reach those users through apps who don't have access to internet connection.

5. Team Collaboration: The businesses develop mobile apps for their internal team to have better communication channel. The employees can freely attend meetings or seminars while staying in touch with other team members.

6. Better Customer Service: The apps make it convenient for the users to provide feedback to the businesses. This helps in providing better customer service by fulfilling their needs on time.

7. Natural Advertising: It is the most natural way of advertising about your company without any pushy message for the customers to take action over it.

There are many mobile applications that have gained high popularity and are now available at reasonable prices. Such mobile applications can become a means to earn additional revenue for your business, too. While you are planning to develop a mobile application, you must take help from professional app developers who are in this field for a long time. This will help you to create a solution that can become the next craze in the industry. When your application will become popular, you would also be able to make attractive business strategies to earn revenue from it.

Struts Interview Questions - How to Sort the Wheat From the Chaff?

In a modern world, virtually every organization is going to need some level of online presence. Organizations that fail to successfully get online risk being left behind.

The obvious next step is to harness the power of the many online solutions available. This is where struts comes in. The struts framework provides the perfect link between the programming required for your website and the all-important database that rests underneath. Struts is like the glue that joins the two together seamlessly, giving optimum experience for your clients, and the critical data-gathering and retention for your organization.

So how do you recruit great IT staff skilled in the struts framework?

This is a problem many organizations face with technology changing so quickly. In practical terms, you need an IT professional who really knows their stuff when it comes to struts. That can be tricky when you don't understand struts yourself.

So how do you sort the wheat from the chaff in sourcing struts interview questions? There are four main ways:

The first and most obvious way is to engage someone skilled in that field to assess the skills of your interviewees. This comes with a few caveats though: (i) you need to be able to source such a person (ii) you need to be satisfied the expert you have hired is actually skilled in that field themselves (iii) there can be a significant cost associated with this approach as IT professionals don't come cheap. The second idea would be to look for free online struts interview questions and ask them yourself at interview. There are caveats here too: (i) you need to able to find a reasonable range of questions on the web in a finite timeframe (ii) the questions must include the answers so you can check how good your interviewee really is (iii) you need to be able to trust the information provided. One of the challenges with the internet environment can be its anonymous nature. Ie. users can post free struts interview questions online with all care and no responsibility (what if they're wrong?) Thirdly, you can get someone to show you some examples of their work in struts programing. This will allow you to at least see how the IT functionality works and potentially give you ideas for your own use. However, there is always the lingering doubt as to whether the interviewee is showing you their own work or something they merely assisted with (or worse, something they were never involved with and don't know how to do). The final option is to purchase off-the-shelf interview questions prepared by an IT expert. On the downside, there will be a cost involved. On the positive side, there should be a solid guarantee provided to give you peace of mind. Further, this approach can save you a lot of time rather than you having to source the questions yourself.

Conclusion

The world is moving fast - get in quick or get left behind. Employing an IT professional skilled in struts will give the head start you need, but make sure you're employing someone you'll be happy with in the long run. To this end, the struts interview questions you ask at interview are critical. Choose carefully!

Tips to Launch an Effective Back Link Campaign

You have spent hundreds of hours to build the best website for hundreds of links in every direction (as far as you area concerned anyway), but you're not attracting much in the way of traffic, what gives? The internet works like the Field of Dreams, right... you built it so they will surely come. Well, unfortunately that's not really how the internet works. Building the best website and putting in the world wide web is actually the first step in a very long, involved process of developing and enhancing your online footprint.

After building your website, you must focus on having those anomalous internet driving machines, otherwise known as search engine robots, to begin crawling your site. While having high-quality unique content is a good start, it's just that, a start.

For instance, the way search results rankings work today, requires your website to generate good-will, otherwise known as trust, with the search engines by having multiple, and relevant in-bound (back) links from established websites in good standing. This means that those websites are currently flagged as possessing high-quality and original content link back to your site in some way. Typically, the higher the page rank of the site with your inbound link, the better. In layman's terms, each one of these inbound links, counts as a vote of confidence, eventually increasing your sites impressions, and click through rates, on the search results for related queries.

So, why not invest in a back link generating tool? Well, you could, and regular use of such tool would certainly increase your ranking in search results fairly quickly, but these services are not cheap. Additionally, you run the risk of running afoul of link spamming detection algorithms used by the major search engines. Additionally, if you are not running your article and back link generating tool from a proxy, you also run the risk of having your IP Address banned on your targeted sites. Granted, there are methodologies and website link diagrams that use a tiered approach to back-link building and mitigate the risk of blacklisting your money site, that is another article for another day.

So what is a small business/internet start-up to do then? Turns out, that legitimate back link building is time consuming, but is much more rewarding than just spamming inbound links on every site out there. As a small business or startup, you should seriously consider generating a handful of initial articles and put someone in charge of getting the articles posted on highly ranked, niche sites as well as article repositories, such as ezinearticles.com. If you continue to generate high-quality articles at a rate of at least one or two a week and submit them to the niche sites you will begin to see results in as little as three to four months. Essentially, you need to focus on promoting the right content to the right people in the right spaces.

You should also consider looking into services that analyze inbound links to your site to monitor your progress. There are several open source and paid options at your disposal, just Google, Bing or Yahoo it. As an example of one free to use service, Google Webmaster Tools offers a fairly comprehensive website traffic and back link analysis tool once you authenticate yourself as the owner of the domain.

Additionally, as an augment to the back link analysis tools, you should also consider a self hosted analytics tool, such as Piwik, which allows for greater control and customization than some of the big box plugins out there. Piwik, for instance, allows you to setup campaigns and tag your back links with campaign tags so you can tell which back links are driving the most traffic to your site and apply what works. Leveraging campaigns allows you to tailor your efforts to achieve maximum results for your efforts.

Keep in mind, that while you are building these back links, do not forget to evaluate and update your own internal links. While these internal links are not as heavily weighted as external links, they do provide some value. These internal links can also help to stream line your navigation. Typically, you should be able to get to any place on your site by going no more than 'tiers' deep into your site. Any more than that, and you should consider re-engineering your website to improve the user experience.

I think that about wraps up some of the basics. Just remember that the back link building process is not a sprint, it is a marathon. You should approach your organic traffic building campaign with a long-view, and do not become discouraged quickly

God, How Come I'm Not Rich?

Ever since my teenage years I had always believed that I would amount to something, I would do something really important and become a real benefit to all of mankind. Well here I am approaching my sixtieth birthday, I was laid off four years ago and here I am sitting at my computer wondering what went wrong. My wife calls me cursed and a loser and my kids say that the employers who were supposed to call me back are just pranking me.

I can remember asking God if He would just let me win the lottery all the good I could do with all that money. I could solve world hunger and I was even willing to cut God in for a slice of my winnings. I thought I had all the bases covered. How could God resist! I was going to cut Him in for 10%.

That reminds me of my dad, who never went to church. One day after he did his tax returns I was looking at the form before he mailed it and I noticed that he had declared $500.00 in donations to his church. I said "hey dad, what's this $500.00 in donations to the church, when have you ever been to church much less when have you ever donated any money to them?" His reply was straight forward and he said "Tim me boy, if I was a church going man I would attend church every week and if I attended church every week I think a donation of $500.00 for the year is more than reasonable." I replied "dad I didn't realize you were so generous."

I think the same principle applied to me when I asked God to win the lottery. Here I was thinking that I was doing God a favor by cutting Him in for 10% when the reality of the situation says that all the wealth on the planet belongs to God in the first place. I would be fortunate indeed if God would cut me in for any amount.

So the question still remained. God how come I'm not rich? My answer came to me the same way all of my questions get answered and that is through the Bible. I think you might be surprised like I was when I searched for my answer in the Bible.

Ecclesiastes 5:12 The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eats little or much; but the abundance of the rich will not permit him to sleep.

It appears that all that money wears heavily on the mind. My sleep is very important to me. I don't want to spend my nights worrying about who's trying to get my money and how I'm going to stop them.

1 Timothy 6:9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.

Am I saying all rich people are bad people? Not at all, the Bible says the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. If you put the needs of your money over the needs of the people or if you justify your actions by saying "it's nothing personal, it's just business" then you need to reevaluate your situation. If God has blessed you with great wealth then it is up to you to use that money in accordance with God's will. You need to be praying daily for God's guidance.

The temptation a lot of people fall into when they acquire a huge fortune is they tend to look down on people and talk down to them thinking they are better people because they have more money. They forget that everything belongs to God and they would have nothing if it weren't for God. Remember in heaven we will all be equal. No more upper, middle and low classes. We are all equal in God's eyes. To be fair I know that there are a lot of good rich people who have used their money very wisely and have benefited a tremendous amount of people.

It looks to me like being rich is not all what it's cut out to be. Where much is given, much is required. Being rich is just an illusion and doesn't lead to happiness at all. My prayer to be rich seemed like a reasonable request at the time and looked like it was the road to happiness but reading these verses is showing me that my intent to be rich and even wanting to be rich is evil and would lead me on a course to my own destruction.

It looks to me that if I were rich there would be a tremendous temptation for me not to depend on God for my salvation and rely on my riches to save me which would be a deadly mistake.

To the people of the earth that God has blessed with abundant wealth God will also require the rich to be accountable for every penny spent. How well do you think our rich people are doing? Having all that responsibility would be a tremendous burden to bear. No wonder the rich have a hard time sleeping. Having all that money would be like playing king of the hill. Everybody would constantly be trying to knock you off the hill. You would never know who your friends really are; you would always be worried about losing your money.

Not only is being rich a huge responsibility the Bible also says that it's almost impossible to enter the kingdom of God.

Luke 6:24 But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.

The above verse reminds me when I was young and my friends and I would go to the carnival. We would play the concession games for hours trying to win the big prize. Of course the game was rigged or so we thought and we would end up paying more money than the prize was actually worth only to receive a consolation prize or a booby prize after all our money was gone. That's what Jesus is saying in the above verse. When the rich person's life is over after all the heartache that they put themselves through, all the sleepless nights Jesus says the life that they lived in luxury is their only reward in the afterlife.

Being wealthy is an enormous responsibility one that cannot be taken lightly. As if all the above wasn't bad enough there's more the Bible has to say about being wealthy.

All the mighty men of the earth are all going to run and hide in the mountains because they are the ones responsible for destroying the planet that really belongs to God. At no other time in earth's history can we point a finger at those responsible for destroying the earth as we can today. With global warming, nuclear warfare and a world system that could care less about feeding and caring for their fellow man it would appear that as we progress in the final time period of man's reign pin pointing exactly who's at fault will become increasingly easier.

Well I learned a very important lesson. Be careful what you wish for! I thank God that the prayer to be rich was answered and that answer was "No!" Asking God if I could be rich would be like a little boy asking his dad if he could have poison to drink. God does what's best for us whether at the time we like it or not. At the time I felt I was let down then God led me to other Bible verses saying that I am richer than any billionaire on the planet.

The reason I can't be rich now is because God hasn't chosen the wealthy to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, He has chosen the poor! Our most important possession to God is our faith and our belief in Jesus Christ. God will not give us anything that will jeopardize these two foundations of our faith. So if I am an heir of the kingdom let's see if we can get a better idea of just what being an heir of the kingdom means.

The maker of the universe is telling us that if we overcome we will inherit all things. God is going to give us all things, not some things or a few things, He is giving us everything. "Inherit all things" My mind can't even comprehend just how much that is. It makes all the riches of this world look puny in comparison. All the wealthy people of the earth who back stabbed their fellow man to reach the top now appears to me to be very lost and very foolish.

What I love about being a Christian is just when things seem to be depressing and bleak God always has all the bases covered. I wanted to be rich and important but God had something much better in mind for me.

How can we be sure that all these promises really pertain to us? Maybe Jesus gets the lions' share of the kingdom and we get what's left over. The Bible says that we are joint heirs with Christ.

My wife and I have a joint banking account and she has just as much access to the money as I do. The Bible also states that in heaven the first main event is the "marriage supper of the Lamb". Who's getting married? We are! We will be joined or married to Jesus Christ and we are going to be sharing in all things. Just as a husband and wife are one, we will also be one with Jesus Christ.

Top 10 Travel Insurance Mistakes to Avoid

Even after being extra careful, you may commit some mistakes and then repent later. So, read on... top 10 most common mistakes that travelers make when buying travel insurance. We hope they will help you avoid the common mistakes.

1) Don't forget to analyze the coverage that your policy provides.

2) Don't write false information. When people try to save money hiding the information it leads to bad consequences in future. Provide proper data about your existing medical conditions because if the insurer finds out that you were suffering from an ailment which you did not disclose, the insurance contract can be terminated.

3) Always read the fine print (terms and conditions). Never buy travel insurance policy if you have not gone through the terms and conditions mentioned in the policy.

4) Don't wait till the last minute. Last minute bought policy might not have coverage that you require and you don't have time to read terms and conditions of the policy. Besides, planning your requirements in advance (e.g., comparing different options) will save you money. Another thing is when you buy travel insurance in the last minute, you are not covered for any emergency occasions and cancellation of the trip.

5) Try not to break the law. It is called the golden rule of traveling: always put up with the laws of the country of your travel. The coverage of your travel insurance policy is limited to legal activities only. Always try to find out the rules of the country you plan to visit.

6) Don't break travel insurance rules. Check out everything you are covered for and do not go to places which don't come under the terms and conditions of the policy.

7) Don't buy travel insurance after you have become ill or your trip was cancelled because you will not be covered.

8) Don't enter into hazardous activities and sport unless your insurance covers it. Cover for hazardous activities is an optional service, so don't forget to add this coverage to your policy.

9) Avoid not buying travel insurance while traveling.It is good if nothing bad happen. However, if any unexpected events take place such as cancellation of trips or one of your family members is to be hospitalized you may not have enough money to cover all necessary costs.

10) If something is not clear for you about terms and conditions of your policy, don't be afraid to ask questions. The reputed insurance companies will provide you with any information you need. Asking question will give you a clear close idea as to what you are covered and what you are not covered for.

These are some of the important points that remind you to be careful in order to avoid any mistakes in travel insurance. Travel insurance is not a waste of money. In opposite it serves to save your money when you are put into a serious trouble. Thus, always try to be aware of the conditions of your policy. Don't be negligent when buying travel insurance and be careful while traveling. Have fun and enjoy your trips.

The Truth about Tooth Decay or Dental Caries

Tooth decay, or dental caries, is caused by prolonged exposure to acids produced by bacteria in the mouth. We cannot avoid bacteria in the air. When we breathe it enters the mouth and attaches itself to everything, including the teeth. In fact, there are more microcosms in one mouth than there are people on the earth.

Sugar is the main culprit in tooth decay, because that is what the bacteria eat. Bacteria then produce acids as a byproduct. Those acids eat at the enamel of our teeth, until hole or cavity in the tooth appears.

Our story begins in the 17th century, when sugar plantations developed in the "new world." Until then food was produced and prepared with much less added sugar. Then the 18th century saw sugar beets being harvested in England. Now, virtually everything we consume, from cereal in the morning to steak and eggs at night contains extra sugar. Bacteria on our teeth count themselves lucky to live in the 21st century, where there is an almost unlimited supply of free food for them to thrive on.

We are in cahoots with sugar and bacteria when we do not brush and clean our teeth. Leaving the bacteria to feed upon sugar and produce acids in our mouths allows the bacteria time to form a visibly organized colony between the gums and the tooth that we call plaque. Plaque actually acts as a cover for the acids that sit on the surface of our enamel. Without cleaning, acids will eat at out enamel almost at will, creating tooth decay and dental caries.

Decay is demineralization. In other words, the outer tissue of the tooth is so hard because it is 95% mineral. The inner tissue of the tooth, dentin, is a little softer because it is only 66% mineral. Normally, saliva is a natural remineralizer when acids have begun demineralizing, but when plaque is involved saliva is almost powerless to repair the damage. Acids will begin with a little hole in the enamel, and once it makes it through to the dentin, it eats the tooth tissue from the inside out. This means serious dental action: fillings, or even a root canal.

With plaque the acid concentration is also higher (Ph 4 or lower), packing a more potent punch through the outer enamel tissue of the tooth. Saliva could take two or more hours to even penetrate the plaque and begin the healing process.

There are a variety of preventative measures to take. I know people who have taken to a no-sweets diet to cut down on their sugar intake. There are many who bring toothpaste and a toothbrush to school or work with them in order to clean after each time they eat. Many more carry floss with them.

May I caution against two things? Please do not depend too heavily on fluoride. Little children who take in too much fluoride, even by swallowing toothpaste accidentally or unwittingly, develop dental flourosis, or yellow and white stains on their teeth in later childhood. Take it in healthy doses.

The second caution is to avoid too much brushing. People who brush excessively or applying too much pressure tear away the gums and expose the roots directly to the acids.

Now, may I suggest two things? Clean frequently and softly by brushing and by flossing. If you can hear the brushing sound as much as the other noise around the house, you are brushing too loudly. With brushing and floss, you don't need to try too hard to eliminate the plaque or the bacteria.

My next suggestion is to carry around gum that is not only sugarless but also supplemented by a natural element called xylitol. Be careful that you choose a gum where xylitol is the leading ingredient. Xylitol fights against the habit bacteria has of settling into tissue to live. Xylitol is a natural bouncer, making cleaning throughout the day easier and cleaning in the morning or at night more thorough.

One transcendent element is sugar. It is almost impossible to escape, and it is not healthy to escape altogether. Though we cannot and should not escape it completely, we can control it and prevent its decaying effects on our teeth.